Dynamic summaries for media content

ABSTRACT

Disclosed are various embodiments for providing dynamically generated summaries of media content, such as electronic books, audiobooks, audio series, video content series, and so on. A position in media content is determined based at least in part on input from a user. A summary of a portion of the media content is dynamically generated, where the portion of the media content begins or ends relative to the position. A summary of the portion of the media content is presented to the user via an output device.

BACKGROUND

Television dramas often have story arcs that span multiple episodes andseasons. Due to time passing between episodes and between seasons,viewers may forget important details from the previous episodes orseasons. These details may be important in understanding the currentepisode. For example, it may be important to know how two characters metin a previous episode in order to understand how the two characters arerelating to one another in a current episode. For these reasons,producers may create “recap” segments at the beginning of an episode tosummarize relevant events in previous episodes or seasons.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Many aspects of the present disclosure can be better understood withreference to the following drawings. The components in the drawings arenot necessarily to scale, with emphasis instead being placed uponclearly illustrating the principles of the disclosure. Moreover, in thedrawings, like reference numerals designate corresponding partsthroughout the several views.

FIGS. 1A and 1B are drawings of example scenarios involving dynamicsummary generation for media content according to various embodiments ofthe present disclosure.

FIG. 2 is a schematic block diagram of a networked environment accordingto various embodiments of the present disclosure.

FIGS. 3 and 4 are flowcharts illustrating examples of functionalityimplemented as portions of a summary generation service executed in acomputing environment in the networked environment of FIG. 2 accordingto various embodiments of the present disclosure.

FIG. 5 is a schematic block diagram that provides one exampleillustration of a computing environment employed in the networkedenvironment of FIG. 2 according to various embodiments of the presentdisclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The present disclosure relates to dynamically generated summaries formedia content, such as electronic books, audiobooks, audio contentseries (e.g., podcasts), video content series (e.g., television serials,movies), and so on. The advent of video streaming services has enabled anew phenomenon of “binge watching” video content series. Instead ofwatching an episode of a video content series each week as it originallyairs, viewers are now watching as much as they can in one sitting.Viewers may spend hours watching episodes of a series, and then stoponce they get tired. When they stop, they may stop mid-season, or evenmid-episode. Often they will not return to continue watching the seriesfor days, weeks, or even longer.

However, when viewers return to continue watching the series, they haveforgotten events of significance in the preceding episodes, charactersand relationships between characters, or elements of the plot orstorylines. The continuity in the viewing experience is interrupted.With many series, episodes are not often self-contained and may includestory arcs that span multiple episodes or even multiple seasons. Aseries may include a recap at the beginning of the episode, but such arecap is not helpful if the viewer resumes watching the series in themiddle of an episode. Further, such a manually created recap assumes astandard viewing pattern and is not personalized for a given viewer. Forexample, the recap does not extend further back in time than the pastfew episodes or previous season.

Various embodiments of the present disclosure introduce dynamicallygenerated summaries or recaps of media content. The summary is tailoredto the consumption history of a given user. With respect to a viewer ina “binge viewing” scenario, the summary may be dynamically generatedrelative to where the viewer stopped viewing. Consequently, even if aviewer resumes watching a video content series mid-episode, a summarymay be provided of scenes of significance occurring in the portion ofthe episode that has already been viewed. Moreover, different viewersmay have different memory capabilities, pay different levels ofattention when watching, have multiple interruptions at differentinstances, or stop watching the content for different intervals of time.The length and detail of the summary may thus be personalized for suchcharacteristics of a given viewer. In addition, the content included ina summary may be customized for relevance to the portion of the mediacontent that is about to be consumed (e.g., the remainder of the episodeto which a viewer returns to watch).

Embodiments of the present disclosure can provide summaries of differenttypes of media content beyond video content series, such as electronicbooks, audio books, podcasts, movies, audio-visual narratives, and otherforms of media content. For instance, a reader may read the first ninechapters and a portion of a tenth chapter in an electronic book, andthen return to the book a month later. In this case, a summary may bedynamically generated covering a synopsis of the storyline in the firstnine chapters, and significant quotations lifted from the portion of thetenth chapter that has been read. Also, in various embodiments, themedia content may include real-time streaming media content, such aslive coverage of a sporting event.

Although many examples discussed herein pertain to summaries of contentthat has been consumed previously, other examples involve dynamicallygenerating summaries of content that has not yet been consumed. Supposethat a viewer of an episode of a television series has to stop playbackof the episode ten minutes early in order to attend a meeting. Invarious embodiments, the viewer can then be shown a brief summary ofscenes of significance occurring in the last ten minutes of the episode,with similar principles being used to generate the summary dynamically.

Turning now to FIG. 1A, shown is a drawing of an example scenario 100 ofgeneration of a dynamic summary 103 according to various embodiments.The example scenario 100 pertains to a video content series 106, whichis structured into a hierarchy of logical divisions that includesseasons 109 at the top level, episodes 112 at the middle level, andshots 115 at the base level. In this example, there are at least twoseasons 109, S1 and S2. Each of the seasons 109 can be associated with arespective season-level recap RC that may be predefined and provided bya content producer or may be dynamically generated.

Each of the seasons 109 contains a number of episodes 112. For example,S1 may be divided into ten episodes 112, EP1 through EP10. Likewise, S2may be divided into ten episodes 112, EP11 through EP20. Each of theepisodes 112 may be associated with a respective episode-level recap RCthat may be predefined and provided by a content producer or may bedynamically generated. Each episode 112 may be divided into a number ofshots 115 or scenes. For example, EP1 is divided into 97 scenes, SH1through SH97, EP11 is divided into SH98 through SH202, and EP20 isdivided into SH807, SH808, SH809, and so forth.

Assume that a user previously stopped watching the video content series106 at the shot 115 that is labeled SH808. According to the principlesof the present disclosure, a dynamic summary 103 is generated for theportion of the video content series 106 that occurs prior to the pointof resumption. In this example, the dynamic summary 103 contains shotSH9 from episode EP1, the recap of episode EP10, shot SH202 from episodeEP 11, and a shot SH807 that precedes shot SH808. The length of thedynamic summary 103 can be determined according to, among other factors,the length of time since the user last watched the video content series106. Further, the content of shot SH808 and subsequent shots 115 may beanalyzed to determine characters, plot, and storyline elements, and thecomponents of the dynamic summary 103 may be selected based at least inpart on relevance to the content of shot SH808 and subsequent shots.

For example, suppose that shot SH808 and subsequent shots SH809 and soforth in episode EP20 discuss a battle between a character named“Danielle” and dragons. Shot SH9 may be selected as the first appearanceof Danielle in the video content series 106. The recap of episode EP10may be pertinent in that it explains why the dragons have arrived in thegeographic region. Shot SH202 may show the dragons impacting thevillagers. Finally, leading up to the point of resumption in the videocontent series 106, shot SH807 may show the beginning of the battlecontinued in shot SH808. In this way, the dynamic summary 103 brings theviewer up to date in a personalized manner with respect to the videocontent series 106 that is being resumed.

Moving on to FIG. 1B, shown is a drawing of an example scenario 150 ofgeneration of a dynamic summary 151 according to various embodiments. Inthe example scenario 150, an electronic book 153 is composed of aplurality of chapters 156. Each of the chapters 156 may in turn becomposed of a plurality of paragraphs 159, which may themselves beformed of one or more sentences 162. Suppose that the electronic book153 includes chapters CH1, CH2, CH3, and so on, and that each respectivechapter 156 may be associated with a corresponding synopsis SYN. ChapterCH1 may be associated with paragraphs P1, P2 . . . P20, chapter CH2 maybe associated with paragraphs P21, P22 . . . P40, chapter CH3 may beassociated with paragraphs P41 through P59, and so forth.

Suppose that a reader resumes reading at sentence SE345 in chapter CH3.A dynamic summary 151 may be generated for that reader from the portionof the electronic book 153 prior to sentence SE345 based upon relevanceto the content the reader is about to read, general significance in theportion to be summarized, as well as other personalizing factors, suchas the length of time since the reader left off in reading. In thisnon-limiting example, the dynamic summary 151 includes paragraph P1 fromchapter CH1, a synopsis of chapter CH2, paragraph P41 from chapter CH3,and sentence SE342 from another paragraph 159 in chapter CH3. In thefollowing discussion, a general description of the system and itscomponents is provided, followed by a discussion of the operation of thesame.

With reference to FIG. 2, shown is a networked environment 200 accordingto various embodiments. The networked environment 200 includes acomputing environment 203 and one or more client devices 206, which arein data communication with each other via a network 209. The network 209includes, for example, the Internet, intranets, extranets, wide areanetworks (WANs), local area networks (LANs), wired networks, wirelessnetworks, cable networks, satellite networks, or other suitablenetworks, etc., or any combination of two or more such networks.

The computing environment 203 may comprise, for example, a servercomputer or any other system providing computing capability.Alternatively, the computing environment 203 may employ a plurality ofcomputing devices that may be arranged, for example, in one or moreserver banks or computer banks or other arrangements. Such computingdevices may be located in a single installation or may be distributedamong many different geographical locations. For example, the computingenvironment 203 may include a plurality of computing devices thattogether may comprise a hosted computing resource, a grid computingresource, and/or any other distributed computing arrangement. In somecases, the computing environment 203 may correspond to an elasticcomputing resource where the allotted capacity of processing, network,storage, or other computing-related resources may vary over time.

Various applications and/or other functionality may be executed in thecomputing environment 203 according to various embodiments. Also,various data is stored in a data store 212 that is accessible to thecomputing environment 203. The data store 212 may be representative of aplurality of data stores 212 as can be appreciated. The data stored inthe data store 212, for example, is associated with the operation of thevarious applications and/or functional entities described below.

The components executed on the computing environment 203, for example,include a content delivery service 215, a summary generation service218, and other applications, services, processes, systems, engines, orfunctionality not discussed in detail herein. The content deliveryservice 215 is configured to deliver media content 221 over the network209 for user consumption via the client devices 206. The contentdelivery service 215 receives content requests 224 from client devices206 and sends content data 227 to the client devices 206. In thisregard, the content delivery service 215 may facilitate streaming oflarge content files or real-time live content via the network 209 to theclient devices 206. Where the media content 221 corresponds toelectronic books or audio segments or other content of a sufficientlysmall size, the content delivery service 215 may deliver the entirety ofthe media content 221 to the client device 206 to be stored on theclient device 206 and presented to a user. The content delivery service215 may also perform rights management functionality with respect to themedia content 221.

The summary generation service 218 is executed to dynamically generatesummaries of the media content 221 that are personalized for a user.Based at least in part on various inputs, including user characteristicsand preferences, where the user left off in the media content 221,metadata indicating portions of significance, and so on, the summarygeneration service 218 dynamically generates a summary that featuresimportant elements of the media content 221, and where applicable, isrelevant to the portion of the media content 221 that the user is aboutto consume.

The data stored in the data store 212 includes, for example, mediacontent 221, dynamic summaries 230, significant logical divisions data233, user data 236, summary generation configuration data 239, machinelearning model data 242, and potentially other data. The media content221 comprises media items that may be consumed by users. For example,the media content 221 may include video programs, video content series,movies, live streaming content, audiobooks, audio programs, podcasts andaudio content series, electronic books and other electronicpublications, or other items. The media content 221 may be pre-producedor live in real-time, potentially with a delay or buffer. The mediacontent 221 may include logical divisions 248 and predefined summaries251.

The logical divisions 248 correspond to any recognized approach todividing the media content 221. In the case of a video content series,the media content 221 may be divided into seasons, episodes, shots orscenes, and frames. In the case of an electronic book, the media content221 may be divided into volumes, chapters, sections, paragraphs, andsentences. In the case of an audio content series, the media content 221may be divided into episodes and segments. In many cases, the mediacontent 221 will be divided into a hierarchy of logical divisions 248,where a first level division is comprised of one or more second leveldivisions. For example, a chapter is comprised of multiple paragraphs,where each paragraph in turn is comprised of multiple sentences.

The media content 221 may be predivided into the logical divisions 248,or an application in the computing environment 203 may perform thisprocessing. In some cases, the media content 221 may be manually dividedinto the logical divisions 248. In other cases, the media content 221may be automatically divided into the logical divisions 248 using a rulebase pertinent to the particular format of the media content 221. Forexample, scenes may be extracted from a movie based upon lighting andcolor differences between video frames, while chapters may be extractedfrom an electronic book based upon heading formatting. Various ruleswith thresholds and criteria can be established to divide the mediacontent 221 as desired. In some cases, the media content 221 may alreadybe split up into multiple files, where each file corresponds to anunderlying logical division 248.

Each logical division 248 may be associated with content 254 andmetadata 257. The content 254 may comprise text, audio, video, graphics,etc. The metadata 257 may describe the content 254 and the logicaldivision 248. For example, the metadata 257 may encode characterspresent in the content 254, plot elements, storyline elements,locations, visual characteristics (e.g., colors, lighting), audiocharacteristics (e.g., tone of speech, emotions, music), popularityratings, relative significance, and so on. The metadata 257 may bemanually populated and/or automatically generated based at least in parton an analysis. For example, face detection and recognition techniquesmay be used to automatically determine characters in a scene, whilevoice recognition techniques may be used to automatically determine aspeaker in segment of an audio content series.

The predefined summaries 251 may provide a hierarchy of existingsummaries for the media content 221. For instance, a video contentseries may include season-level recaps and episode-level recaps createdby the content producer. Predefined summaries 251 may be leveraged toaid creation of a dynamic summary 230. In some cases, predefinedsummaries 251 may be automatically created and stored for later usewithin dynamic summaries 230.

The dynamic summaries 230 are generated by the summary generationservice 218 to provide a personalized summary of a portion of mediacontent 221 before or after a particular position in the media content221. The dynamic summaries 230 are tailored to the particular positionin the media content 221, which may be at a point within a logicaldivision 248 that is not associated with a predefined summary 251, suchas midway through an episode of a video content series. Moreover, thedynamic summaries 230 may be dynamically generated to be highly relevantto the portion of the media content 254 to be consumed (e.g., read,listened to, or viewed). For example, the dynamic summaries 230 mayprovide background on two characters who appear together in the portionof the media content 254 to be consumed. The length and content of thedynamic summaries 230 may depend upon user characteristics. For example,male users may prefer to watch action sequences, while female users mayprefer to watch romantic sequences. Also, the dynamic summaries 230 mayinclude more detail for users who are less likely to remember details(e.g., if a relatively long time has elapsed since consuming the portionof the media content 221 that is being summarized). In some cases, thedynamic summaries 230 may be rated by users, and a user may be able tochoose to consume a dynamic summary 230 meeting a threshold forpopularity.

The significant logical divisions data 233 may describe a subset of thelogical divisions 248 for the media content 221 that are consideredrelatively significant or salient. In one embodiment, each logicaldivision 248 at a base level (e.g., sentences, scenes) may be associatedwith a significance rating. Such ratings may be assigned automaticallyvia a machine learning approach and feedback from users. Alternatively,the ratings may be crowdsourced. Crowdsourcing may occur directly orindirectly. For example, popularity of dialogue in a scene may bedetermined through frequency of text searches that match the dialogue.Various embodiments that pertain to automatic creation of customabridgements of content based on textual search queries are described inU.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/647,931, entitled “ANALYZING USERSEARCHES OF VERBAL MEDIA CONTENT,” filed on Oct. 9, 2012, which issuedas U.S. Pat. No. 9,165,072 on Oct. 20, 2015, which is incorporatedherein by reference in its entirety. Other approaches to crowdsourcingthe identification of significant portions of media content 221 aredescribed in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/404,459, entitled“ANALYZING USER BEHAVIOR RELATIVE TO MEDIA CONTENT,” filed on Feb. 24,2012, which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.

The user data 236 may include a variety of data regarding users that maybe leveraged by the summary generation service 218 in personalizing thedynamic summaries 230. To this end, the user data 236 may includecharacteristics 260, a media consumption history 263, feedback data 266,and/or other data. The characteristics 260 may include anycharacteristic of the user that may have a bearing on what type ofdynamic summary 230 would be viewed as most helpful or relevant to theparticular user. For example, the characteristics 260 may include age,gender, location, summary length preferences, etc.

The media consumption history 263 tracks the user's consumption habitswith respect to the media content 221. This may be used to profile theuser's likely level of attention to the media content 221 that he or shehas consumed, which may be related to the level of detail and length tobe used for generating the dynamic summary 230. Also, the mediaconsumption history 263 may be used to track an elapsed time since theuser left off in consuming particular media content 221, and elapsedtimes since the user consumed previous logical divisions 248 of mediacontent 221. The feedback data 266 may indicate implicit or explicitfeedback from the user regarding dynamic summaries 230 that werepresented to the user.

The summary generation configuration data 239 includes thresholds,target lengths, factor weights, and/or other parameters used to controlthe dynamic generation of the dynamic summaries 230. The parameters inthe summary generation configuration data 239 may be manuallyestablished and/or set automatically via machine learning approaches.The machine learning model data 245 corresponds to training data andoutput data for a machine learning model to determine operatingparameters for the summary generation service 218. Various machinelearning models that may be used may include trees and Bayesiannetworks. The feedback data 266 indicating whether the user liked ordisliked the dynamic summary 230 may be used to control how futuredynamic summaries 230 are generated for the particular user and/or otherusers.

The client device 206 is representative of a plurality of client devicesthat may be coupled to the network 209. The client device 206 maycomprise, for example, a processor-based system such as a computersystem. Such a computer system may be embodied in the form of a desktopcomputer, a laptop computer, personal digital assistants, cellulartelephones, smartphones, set-top boxes, music players, web pads, tabletcomputer systems, game consoles, electronic book readers, or otherdevices. The client device 206 may include one or more output devices269 such as a display and a sound device. The display may comprise, forexample, one or more devices such as liquid crystal display (LCD)displays, gas plasma-based flat panel displays, organic light emittingdiode (OLED) displays, electrophoretic ink (E ink) displays, LCDprojectors, or other types of display devices, etc.

The client device 206 may be configured to execute various applicationssuch as a content access application 272 and/or other applications. Thecontent access application 272 may be executed to send content requests224 over the network 209 to the content delivery service 215 and toreceive content data 227. The content access application 272 may thenrender the content data 227 for presentation to a user via one or moreoutput devices 269. The content data 227 may include media content 221and dynamic summaries 230. The client device 206 may be configured toexecute applications beyond the content access application 272 such as,for example, browsers, email applications, social networkingapplications, word processors, spreadsheets, and/or other applications.

Although the dynamic generation of the dynamic summaries 230 has beendescribed primarily with reference to server-side generation, it isunderstood that the functionality of the summary generation service 218may be implemented client-side in some embodiments. In such embodiments,some or all of the data in the data store 212 may be stored in theclient device 206 or may otherwise be made available to the clientdevice 206 via the network 209 (e.g., by way of a web service).

Referring next to FIG. 3, shown is a flowchart that provides one exampleof the operation of a portion of the summary generation service 218according to various embodiments. In particular, FIG. 3 pertains togenerating a dynamic summary 230 (FIG. 2) for media content 221 (FIG. 2)that was previously viewed. It is understood that the flowchart of FIG.3 provides merely an example of the many different types of functionalarrangements that may be employed to implement the operation of theportion of the summary generation service 218 as described herein. As analternative, the flowchart of FIG. 3 may be viewed as depicting anexample of elements of a method implemented in the computing environment203 (FIG. 2) or the client device 206 according to one or moreembodiments.

Beginning with box 303, the summary generation service 218 (potentiallyvia the content delivery service 215 (FIG. 2)) obtains a content request224 (FIG. 2) to consume media content 221. The content request 224 maybe based on user input (e.g., a user navigates to a certain episode in avideo content series and presses a play button). The content request 224may specify a starting point or a point of resumption in the mediacontent 221. In box 306, the summary generation service 218 determinesthe characteristics 260 of the user. For instance, male users may preferto see action sequences, while female users may prefer to see romanticsequences. Also, users who are likely not to pay close attention to themedia content 221 may prefer to see additional detail in a longerdynamic summary 230.

In box 309, the summary generation service 218 may determine the elapsedsince the user previously ended consumption of the media content 221, ifapplicable. This may be determined with reference to the mediaconsumption history 263 (FIG. 2) of the user, which may includetime-stamped actions related to media consumption. For example, thesummary generation service 218 may determine that it has beensixty-three days since the user last watched a video content series inquestion, or the summary generation service 218 may determine that ithas been 122 days since the user left off in reading an electronic bookin question. In addition, the summary generation service 218 maydetermine how long it has been since the user consumed earlier content254 (FIG. 2) in a series of media content 221. For example, the summarygeneration service 218 may determine that it has been a year since theuser viewed a first season of a video content series.

In box 310, the summary generation service 218 determines what portionof the media content 221 has actually been consumed by the user. Forexample, for a season of ten episodes of a video content series, a usermay have watched all episodes except for the third and fourth episodes.In generating the dynamic summary 230, the summary generation service218 may give a greater weight to scenes within the unwatched third andfourth episodes in selecting significant scenes for inclusion in thedynamic summary 230 because the user has not watched those episodes.

In box 312, the summary generation service 218 may analyze a portion ofthe media content 221 that is after the point of resumption. In thisregard, the summary generation service 218 may perform a rule-basedanalysis on the content 254 or extract parameters from the metadata 257that indicate cast members, characters, plot elements, storylineelements, locations, etc., that occur in this subsequent portion of themedia content 221. This may be used to identify earlier portions of themedia content 221 to be included in the dynamic summary 230 asespecially relevant to what occurs in the portion of the media content221 after the point of resumption.

In box 315, the summary generation service 218 identifies logicaldivisions 248 (FIG. 2) of significance in the portion of the mediacontent 221 prior to the point of resumption. In this regard, thesummary generation service 218 may perform a rule-based analysis on thecontent 254 or metadata 257, or may refer to significant logicaldivisions data 233. Rankings may be assigned to each of the logicaldivisions 248, indicating a relative significance, with significancebeing defined relative to the entire portion of the media content 221 orbeing defined relative to what occurs in the portion of the mediacontent 221 subsequent to the point of resumption. Such rankings orindication of significance may be manually curated by editors or may becrowdsourced. In one embodiment, logical divisions 248 of significancemay be defined based upon searches for verbal content from theparticular logical portions 248 in a search engine.

In box 318, the summary generation service 218 determines a targetlength for the dynamic summary 230. This target length may depend atleast in part on characteristics 260 of the user, the elapsed time sincethe user left off watching the media content 221, the elapsed time sincethe user last watched other logical divisions 248 of the media content221 that are to be summarized, the number of logical divisions 248 ofthe media content 221 that are considered highly relevant (i.e., meetinga threshold for relevance) with respect to the portion of the mediacontent 221 after the point of resumption, and so on. Depending on thetype of media content 221, the target length may be defined in terms oftime or in terms of space (i.e., text length).

In box 321, the summary generation service 218 dynamically generates asummary of the portion of the media content 221 prior to the point ofresumption, where the dynamic summary 230 is personalized for the user.To this end, the summary generation service 218 may select logicaldivisions 248 of the media content 221 based upon their relativesignificance in order to approximate the target length. In this regard,the summary generation service 218 may select all logical divisions 248with a significance score meeting a threshold from the summarygeneration configuration data 239. If a predefined summary 251 existsfor a logical division 248, and the entirety of the logical division 248is considered relevant, the summary generation service 218 may insert apredefined summary 251 in the dynamic summary 230. In some cases,logical divisions 248 of the media content 221 may be included in thedynamic summary 230 at an above-normal speed. In various embodiments, amachine learning model may be employed to select logical divisions 248based upon the content 254 therein, characteristics 260, and otherfactors, according to the machine learning model data 245 (FIG. 2).

In box 324, the summary generation service 218 causes the dynamicsummary 230 to be presented to the user. For example, the contentdelivery service 215 may stream or transfer the dynamic summary 230 tothe client device 206 via the network 209 in the content data 227 (FIG.2). The content access application 272 (FIG. 2) on the client device 206may then be configured to render the dynamic summary 230 on one or moreoutput devices 269 (FIG. 2). In various scenarios, the user may requestto skip the dynamic summary 230 or provide positive or negative feedbackregarding the helpfulness of the summary. This feedback may be recordedby the summary generation service 218 in the feedback data 266. Thefeedback data 266 may be used to improve the functioning of a machinelearning model used in generating the dynamic summary 230.

In box 327, the summary generation service 218 causes the media content221 to be presented to the user after the dynamic summary 230. Forexample, the content delivery service 215 may stream or transfer themedia content 221 after the point of resumption to the client device 206via the network 209 in the content data 227. The content accessapplication 272 on the client device 206 may then be configured torender the media content 221 on one or more output devices 269 afterpresenting the dynamic summary 230. Thereafter, the portion of thesummary generation service 218 ends.

Continuing on to FIG. 4, shown is a flowchart that provides one exampleof the operation of another portion of the summary generation service218 according to various embodiments. In particular, FIG. 4 pertains togenerating a dynamic summary 230 (FIG. 2) for media content 221 (FIG. 2)that has not been viewed. It is understood that the flowchart of FIG. 4provides merely an example of the many different types of functionalarrangements that may be employed to implement the operation of theportion of the summary generation service 218 as described herein. As analternative, the flowchart of FIG. 4 may be viewed as depicting anexample of elements of a method implemented in the computing environment203 (FIG. 2) or the client device 206 according to one or moreembodiments.

Beginning with box 403, the summary generation service 218 obtains arequest to end consumption of media content 221 (FIG. 2). In box 406,the summary generation service 218 determines the characteristics 260 ofthe user. For instance, male users may prefer to see action sequences,while female users may prefer to see romantic sequences. Also, users whoare likely not to pay close attention to the media content 221 mayprefer to see additional detail in a longer dynamic summary 230.

In box 409, the summary generation service 218 identifies logicaldivisions 248 of significance in the remaining portion of the mediacontent 221 occurring after the point at which the user endedconsumption. For example, the summary generation service 218 may referto the significant logical divisions data 233 to determine relativerankings of the remaining logical divisions 248 in the media content 221with respect to significance. The remaining portion may correspond to aremainder of a particular logical division 248. For instance, the usermay wish to see a summary of the remaining episode or chapter, or theuser may wish to see a summary of the rest of the season or volume. Sucha preference may be explicitly elicited from the user via a userinterface or may be inferred from past user behavior via the machinelearning model data 245 (FIG. 2).

In box 412, the summary generation service 218 determines a targetlength for the dynamic summary 230. The summary generation service 218may prompt the user to select a particular length via a user interface.For example, the user may select from lengths varying from thirtyseconds to ten minutes in order to summarize a remaining forty minutesof media content 221.

In box 415, the summary generation service 218 dynamically generates asummary of the remaining portion of the media content 221. To this end,the summary generation service 218 may select logical divisions 248 ofthe media content 221 based upon their relative significance in order toapproximate the target length. In this regard, the summary generationservice 218 may select all logical divisions 248 with a significancescore meeting a threshold from the summary generation configuration data239. If a predefined summary 251 exists for a logical division 248, andthe entirety of the logical division 248 is considered relevant, thesummary generation service 218 may insert a predefined summary 251 inthe dynamic summary 230. In some cases, logical divisions 248 of themedia content 221 may be included in the dynamic summary 230 at anabove-normal speed. In various embodiments, a machine learning model maybe employed to select logical divisions 248 based upon the content 254therein, characteristics 260, and other factors, according to themachine learning model data 245.

In box 418, the summary generation service 218 causes the dynamicsummary to be presented to the user. For example, the content deliveryservice 215 may stream or transfer the dynamic summary 230 to the clientdevice 206 via the network 209 in the content data 227 (FIG. 2). Thecontent access application 272 (FIG. 2) on the client device 206 maythen be configured to render the dynamic summary 230 on one or moreoutput devices 269 (FIG. 2). In various scenarios, the user may providepositive or negative feedback regarding the helpfulness of the summary.This feedback may be recorded by the summary generation service 218 inthe feedback data 266. The feedback data 266 may be used to improve thefunctioning of a machine learning model used in generating the dynamicsummary 230. Thereafter, the portion of the summary generation service218 ends.

With reference to FIG. 5, shown is a schematic block diagram of thecomputing environment 203 according to an embodiment of the presentdisclosure. The computing environment 203 includes one or more computingdevices 500. Each computing device 500 includes at least one processorcircuit, for example, having a processor 503 and a memory 506, both ofwhich are coupled to a local interface 509. To this end, each computingdevice 500 may comprise, for example, at least one server computer orlike device. The local interface 509 may comprise, for example, a databus with an accompanying address/control bus or other bus structure ascan be appreciated.

Stored in the memory 506 are both data and several components that areexecutable by the processor 503. In particular, stored in the memory 506and executable by the processor 503 are the content delivery service215, the summary generation service 218, and potentially otherapplications. Also stored in the memory 506 may be a data store 212 andother data. In addition, an operating system may be stored in the memory506 and executable by the processor 503.

It is understood that there may be other applications that are stored inthe memory 506 and are executable by the processor 503 as can beappreciated. Where any component discussed herein is implemented in theform of software, any one of a number of programming languages may beemployed such as, for example, C, C++, C#, Objective C, Java®,JavaScript®, Perl, PHP, Visual Basic®, Python®, Ruby, Flash®, or otherprogramming languages.

A number of software components are stored in the memory 506 and areexecutable by the processor 503. In this respect, the term “executable”means a program file that is in a form that can ultimately be run by theprocessor 503. Examples of executable programs may be, for example, acompiled program that can be translated into machine code in a formatthat can be loaded into a random access portion of the memory 506 andrun by the processor 503, source code that may be expressed in properformat such as object code that is capable of being loaded into a randomaccess portion of the memory 506 and executed by the processor 503, orsource code that may be interpreted by another executable program togenerate instructions in a random access portion of the memory 506 to beexecuted by the processor 503, etc. An executable program may be storedin any portion or component of the memory 506 including, for example,random access memory (RAM), read-only memory (ROM), hard drive,solid-state drive, USB flash drive, memory card, optical disc such ascompact disc (CD) or digital versatile disc (DVD), floppy disk, magnetictape, or other memory components.

The memory 506 is defined herein as including both volatile andnonvolatile memory and data storage components. Volatile components arethose that do not retain data values upon loss of power. Nonvolatilecomponents are those that retain data upon a loss of power. Thus, thememory 506 may comprise, for example, random access memory (RAM),read-only memory (ROM), hard disk drives, solid-state drives, USB flashdrives, memory cards accessed via a memory card reader, floppy disksaccessed via an associated floppy disk drive, optical discs accessed viaan optical disc drive, magnetic tapes accessed via an appropriate tapedrive, and/or other memory components, or a combination of any two ormore of these memory components. In addition, the RAM may comprise, forexample, static random access memory (SRAM), dynamic random accessmemory (DRAM), or magnetic random access memory (MRAM) and other suchdevices. The ROM may comprise, for example, a programmable read-onlymemory (PROM), an erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM), anelectrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), or otherlike memory device.

Also, the processor 503 may represent multiple processors 503 and/ormultiple processor cores and the memory 506 may represent multiplememories 506 that operate in parallel processing circuits, respectively.In such a case, the local interface 509 may be an appropriate networkthat facilitates communication between any two of the multipleprocessors 503, between any processor 503 and any of the memories 506,or between any two of the memories 506, etc. The local interface 509 maycomprise additional systems designed to coordinate this communication,including, for example, performing load balancing. The processor 503 maybe of electrical or of some other available construction.

Although the content delivery service 215, the summary generationservice 218, and other various systems described herein may be embodiedin software or code executed by general purpose hardware as discussedabove, as an alternative the same may also be embodied in dedicatedhardware or a combination of software/general purpose hardware anddedicated hardware. If embodied in dedicated hardware, each can beimplemented as a circuit or state machine that employs any one of or acombination of a number of technologies. These technologies may include,but are not limited to, discrete logic circuits having logic gates forimplementing various logic functions upon an application of one or moredata signals, application specific integrated circuits (ASICs) havingappropriate logic gates, field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), orother components, etc. Such technologies are generally well known bythose skilled in the art and, consequently, are not described in detailherein.

The flowcharts of FIGS. 3 and 4 show the functionality and operation ofan implementation of portions of the summary generation service 218. Ifembodied in software, each block may represent a module, segment, orportion of code that comprises program instructions to implement thespecified logical function(s). The program instructions may be embodiedin the form of source code that comprises human-readable statementswritten in a programming language or machine code that comprisesnumerical instructions recognizable by a suitable execution system suchas a processor 503 in a computer system or other system. The machinecode may be converted from the source code, etc. If embodied inhardware, each block may represent a circuit or a number ofinterconnected circuits to implement the specified logical function(s).

Although the flowcharts of FIGS. 3 and 4 show a specific order ofexecution, it is understood that the order of execution may differ fromthat which is depicted. For example, the order of execution of two ormore blocks may be scrambled relative to the order shown. Also, two ormore blocks shown in succession in FIGS. 3 and 4 may be executedconcurrently or with partial concurrence. Further, in some embodiments,one or more of the blocks shown in FIGS. 3 and 4 may be skipped oromitted. In addition, any number of counters, state variables, warningsemaphores, or messages might be added to the logical flow describedherein, for purposes of enhanced utility, accounting, performancemeasurement, or providing troubleshooting aids, etc. It is understoodthat all such variations are within the scope of the present disclosure.

Also, any logic or application described herein, including the contentdelivery service 215 and the summary generation service 218, thatcomprises software or code can be embodied in any non-transitorycomputer-readable medium for use by or in connection with an instructionexecution system such as, for example, a processor 503 in a computersystem or other system. In this sense, the logic may comprise, forexample, statements including instructions and declarations that can befetched from the computer-readable medium and executed by theinstruction execution system. In the context of the present disclosure,a “computer-readable medium” can be any medium that can contain, store,or maintain the logic or application described herein for use by or inconnection with the instruction execution system.

The computer-readable medium can comprise any one of many physical mediasuch as, for example, magnetic, optical, or semiconductor media. Morespecific examples of a suitable computer-readable medium would include,but are not limited to, magnetic tapes, magnetic floppy diskettes,magnetic hard drives, memory cards, solid-state drives, USB flashdrives, or optical discs. Also, the computer-readable medium may be arandom access memory (RAM) including, for example, static random accessmemory (SRAM) and dynamic random access memory (DRAM), or magneticrandom access memory (MRAM). In addition, the computer-readable mediummay be a read-only memory (ROM), a programmable read-only memory (PROM),an erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM), an electricallyerasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), or other type of memorydevice.

Further, any logic or application described herein, including thecontent delivery service 215 and the summary generation service 218, maybe implemented and structured in a variety of ways. For example, one ormore applications described may be implemented as modules or componentsof a single application. Further, one or more applications describedherein may be executed in shared or separate computing devices or acombination thereof. For example, a plurality of the applicationsdescribed herein may execute in the same computing device 500, or inmultiple computing devices 500 in the same computing environment 203.

Disjunctive language such as the phrase “at least one of X, Y, or Z,”unless specifically stated otherwise, is otherwise understood with thecontext as used in general to present that an item, term, etc., may beeither X, Y, or Z, or any combination thereof (e.g., X, Y, and/or Z).Thus, such disjunctive language is not generally intended to, and shouldnot, imply that certain embodiments require at least one of X, at leastone of Y, or at least one of Z to each be present.

It should be emphasized that the above-described embodiments of thepresent disclosure are merely possible examples of implementations setforth for a clear understanding of the principles of the disclosure.Many variations and modifications may be made to the above-describedembodiment(s) without departing substantially from the spirit andprinciples of the disclosure. All such modifications and variations areintended to be included herein within the scope of this disclosure andprotected by the following claims.

Therefore, the following is claimed:
 1. A non-transitorycomputer-readable medium embodying a program executable in at least onecomputing device, wherein when executed the program causes the at leastone computing device to at least: receive a request from a user toresume viewing a video content series at a point of resumption;determine an elapsed time since the user left off viewing the videocontent series at the point of resumption; dynamically generate a videosummary comprising scenes of significance in the video content seriesoccurring prior to the point of resumption based at least in part on theelapsed time, wherein content of the video summary is selected accordingto a length of the elapsed time; and cause the video summary to bepresented upon a display before presentation of the video content seriesresumes on the display at the point of resumption.
 2. The non-transitorycomputer-readable medium of claim 1, wherein the scenes of significanceinclude a dynamically generated video summary of a previous season and adynamically generated video summary of a previous episode.
 3. Thenon-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 1, wherein whenexecuted the program further causes the at least one computing device toat least automatically identify the scenes of significance based atleast in part on a contextual comparison of metadata associated witheach of a set of scenes of the video content series occurring prior tothe point of resumption with metadata associated with a portion of thevideo content series beginning at the point of resumption.
 4. Thenon-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 1, wherein the videosummary is dynamically generated based at least in part on at least onecharacteristic of the user, the at least one characteristic comprisingat least one of: an age of the user, a gender of the user, a viewinghistory of the user, or a feedback history of the user regardingprevious dynamically generated video summaries.
 5. A system, comprising:at least one computing device; and at least one application executablein the at least one computing device, wherein when executed the at leastone application causes the at least one computing device to at least:determine a position in media content based at least in part on inputfrom a user, wherein the media content is divided into a hierarchy oflogical divisions including a first level division and a second leveldivision; dynamically generate a summary of a portion of the mediacontent beginning or ending relative to the position; and cause thesummary of the portion of the media content to be presented to the uservia an output device, wherein the summary includes a first summary atthe first level division and a second summary at the second leveldivision.
 6. The system of claim 5, wherein the media contentcorresponds to at least one of: an electronic book, an audio book, avideo content series, a video program, an audio program, or an audiocontent series.
 7. The system of claim 5, wherein the summary is of theportion of the media content ending relative to the position, and thesummary is dynamically generated based at least in part on at least onecharacteristic of another portion of the media content beginningrelative to the position.
 8. The system of claim 5, wherein the positionis at which the user commenced consumption of the media content, thesummary is of the portion of the media content ending relative to theposition, and the media content is real-time media content.
 9. Thesystem of claim 5, wherein the summary is dynamically generated based atleast in part on metadata indicating which logical divisions of theportion of the media content are associated with a relative significancemeeting a threshold.
 10. The system of claim 5, wherein when executedthe at least one application further causes the at least one computingdevice to at least: analyze a plurality of logical divisions of theportion of the media content to determine a subset of the plurality oflogical divisions that are associated with a relative significancemeeting a threshold; and wherein the summary is generated based at leastin part on the subset of the logical divisions.
 11. The system of claim5, wherein the portion of the media content begins at the position inthe media content at which the user ended consumption of the mediacontent, and the portion of the media content corresponds to a balanceof a logical division of the media content.
 12. The system of claim 5,wherein when executed the at least one application further causes the atleast one computing device to at least: identify a target summary lengthbased at least in part on a user preference or a length of time sincethe user ended consumption of the media content; and wherein the summaryis dynamically generated based at least in part on the target summarylength.
 13. A system, comprising: at least one computing device; and atleast one application executable in the at least one computing device,wherein when executed the at least one application causes the at leastone computing device to at least: determine a position in media contentbased at least in part on input from a user; dynamically generate asummary of a portion of the media content beginning or ending relativeto the position; and cause the summary of the portion of the mediacontent to be presented to the user via an output device, wherein thesummary is dynamically generated based at least in part on metadataindicating which logical divisions of the portion of the media contentare associated with a relative significance meeting a threshold, whereinthe metadata is generated based at least in part on a popularity ofdialogue searches relative to individual logical divisions of theportion of the media content.
 14. A method, comprising: receiving, by atleast one computing device, a request from a user to resume consumptionof media content at a point of resumption; determining, by the at leastone computing device, an elapsed time since the user ended consumptionof the media content; dynamically generating, by the at least onecomputing device, a summary of a portion of the media content occurringprior to the point of resumption, wherein the summary is dynamicallygenerated based at least in part on the elapsed time, and content of thesummary is selected according to a length of the elapsed time; causing,by the at least one computing device, the summary to be presented to theuser via an output device; and causing, by the at least one computingdevice, the media content to be presented to the user at the point ofresumption after presentation of the summary.
 15. The method of claim14, further comprising selecting, by the at least one computing device,a plurality of logical divisions of the portion of the media content tobe included in the summary based at least in part on a machine learningmodel indicating automatically extracted logical divisions ofsignificance from the portion of the media content.
 16. The method ofclaim 14, further comprising selecting, by the at least one computingdevice, a plurality of logical divisions of the portion of the mediacontent to be included in the summary based at least in part on metadataindicating at least one of a character, a plot, or a storyline featuredin the media content after the point of resumption.
 17. The method ofclaim 14, further comprising including, by the at least one computingdevice, in the summary a logical division of the portion of the mediacontent at an above-normal speed.
 18. The method of claim 14, whereinthe summary is dynamically generated further based at least in part on acharacteristic of the user.
 19. The method of claim 14, wherein themedia content corresponds to a video content series, and the point ofresumption is within an episode of the video content series.
 20. Themethod of claim 14, wherein the media content is divided into ahierarchy of logical divisions including a first level division and asecond level division, and the summary includes a first summary at thefirst level division and a second summary at the second level division.